


The Tempest

by Jael, pir8grl



Series: Voyages of the Canary [12]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-05-07 05:30:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14664294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jael/pseuds/Jael, https://archiveofourown.org/users/pir8grl/pseuds/pir8grl
Summary: Here's a bit of piratical family adventure!





	1. Chapter 1

**The South Pacific**

It started with a thump...followed by a muffled curse.

Sara followed the sound to the cargo hold, frowning in concern. She hurried forward when she saw Leonard on his knees, apparently curled around himself in pain.

“Len? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” 

He shook off her assistance - or tried to. Sara could be very persistent when she put her mind to it, and she wasn’t having any male nonsense.

“Len? Talk to me!” She got down on her knees next to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. Len shook his head, but dragged in a breath, and Sara had, for now, to be satisfied with that.

After a moment, he stood slowly, her arms wrapped around him until she was sure he was steady. After letting go, Sara noticed a canvas bag on the floor and stooped to pick it up. 

“Wanna tell me what you’re up to?” she asked, tone dry.

Leonard sighed, still a bit winded. “I was trying to build up my arm. It shakes sometimes.”

Sara hefted the sand-filled bag and frowned. “That’s an old injury, and this is very heavy,” she said with some disapproval, as befit a former member of the League of Assassins, who knew, after all, what she was talking about. “You’d be better off with less weight.” 

He shook his head in defeat. 

Sara frowned. “Len? Talk to me...please?” 

He looked at her after a long moment, deep blue eyes clouded with pain, and something else. 

“I need to be able to look after you and Michaela.” 

Sara shook her head with a little disbelief. It wasn’t like she was unable to look after herself, and Leonard knew it. “We look after each other, and we’ll look after her, together.” 

He shook his head again, as if he didn’t hear her. “My arm...it’s...I’m older than you, you know, and my arm, sometimes it can’t take weight the way it should.” 

“Hey, what’s brought this on?” 

“What if something happens, and I can’t defend you both? What if I can’t keep up with you, or Michaela?” His gaze flickered to hers. “What if...what if I drop her?” 

Sara blinked with the absurdity of it before shaking her head. “Hey! Stop with the what ifs. Just stop it.” She took his face firmly in her hands. “Me and you, remember? I made my choice a long time ago.” She ran her hands lightly over the tightly knotted muscles of his shoulders “If this really worries you that much, we’ll talk to Martin, and we will work on it - **_together.”_**

Leonard looked down at her and smiled faintly. “I suppose I could use some of that unholy-smelling liniment.” 

Sara smiled mischievously. “Or I could kiss it better.” 

“You could,” Len agreed. He grinned then, and dipped his head to kiss her...

“Oh, fer - I thought we was past this?” Mick griped from the doorway. He made a show of hiding the baby’s face against his shoulder. “Yer honeymoon was months ago!” 

Leonard snorted, glancing up at them. (Michaela giggled, trying to turn around, thoroughly unbothered by her parents’ activities.) “You really thought we were going to stop? I don’t think that’s how you stay married.”

“Whatever. I jus’ know I don’ want to see it!”

* * *

For all Leonard’s fears and nightmares, however, life on the Canary had really become rather domestic these days. Not without its hazards...but even those have been more domestic ones.

Len frowned as the sound of Sin’s raised voice and Michaela’s squalling met his ears from out in the passageway. The elder girl usually seemed very willing to take on baby duty, but as Michaela got a little older and more strong-willed (well, he thought with amusement, look at her mother), it wasn’t without its challenges. Pushing the door open, he glanced inside.

“Stop it!” Sin scolded, as the baby whined and smacked the spoon she was holding. Food flew.

“Hey...what’s going on in here?” Len asked as calmly as he could manage, moving inside.

“She keeps knocking the spoon and making a mess!” 

Well, that part was certainly true. Both girls were splotched with mashed fruit. So was the surface of Sara’s desk. And... ** _not his books…_**

Len sucked in a deep breath and crossed the room, dampening a washrag in the basin. 

“OK. First off, Michaela is too little to know right from wrong, so we need to be very patient with her, all right?” **_Very patient,_** he reminded himself firmly. 

He picked up the baby and began to gently wipe off the sticky mess. Michaela, who’d accomplished mischief, chortled at him. Sin, meanwhile, looked to be on the verge of tears. Len frowned. Had she taken his words as a rebuke? Sin usually knew better, giving as good as she got at this age.

“It’s not that bad,” he said coaxingly. “Go wash your face. I’ll help clean up.” 

“Sara will be mad at me.” 

“She will be no such thing. It’s a little bit of mess, that’s all.” 

Sin bit her lip, another gesture she’d picked up from Sara. “She’ll be mad, and she’ll send me away.” 

Len looked at the girl in shock, as Michaela made a fierce grab for the washrag. “Wherever did you get an idea like that?” 

“I’ve heard you talking about sending me away to school,” Sin murmured miserably. 

Len tightened his grip on the squirming little one, so he could focus his attention on Sin. “OK, then...that’s on us. We should have spoken **_to_** you, and not **_around_** you. Although you really need to improve your eavesdropping skills, because you obviously missed a rather important component of the discussion.”

Sin looked up at him, trying not to look hopeful. Leonard’s heart went out to the girl, who’d apparently been keeping this in since she’d overheard.

“Raymond has offered repeatedly to have you come and live with him in London,” he told her. “Sara turned him down, first because it was too soon after your own folks died, and she didn’t want to separate you from the crew. He offered again, and she said no again, because she didn’t ever want you to feel that the baby had taken your place. All right? We love you, very much.” 

He paused, waiting for her to acknowledge his words. Finally, Sin nodded. 

“Martin says you’re very smart, and good at your lessons, when you focus,” Len continued. “We’d like you to have a good education.” He paused again. “Now, this is the part we should have discussed with you. The only kind of schools that accept girls your age are young ladies’ finishing schools. They teach things like music, and dancing, and French, and fine needlework. If you’d really like that, we’ll find a way to send you, but we honestly didn’t think you’d be happy in a place like that. What do you think?” 

“That sounds **_awful,”_** Sin replied, wrinkling her nose. 

“We’d miss you if you went away to school, but Sara and I want you to be happy.” 

“I’m happy here,” the girl said firmly. “I don’t want anything else.”

Leonard knew that was all too possibly likely to change someday in the future, but forbore to mention it at this point. “And we’re happy to have you here,” he said. “Now, do you think you can clean off my books?” 

Sin nodded and got another damp cloth, carefully setting to work. Len watched, jiggling Michaela, who, mischief abated, was starting to flag.

“What’s that book you’ve been so absorbed in since Christmas?” he asked curiously. 

_“The Inferno.”_

“That’s a good one,” he said approvingly. 

“I lose track of the story sometimes,” Sin admitted, glancing up at him. “I keep having to look up words.” 

“I’ll help,” Len offered, wanting to keep his connection to this bright young girl, this unexpected surrogate daughter, as she grew into a young scholar.

Sin brightened. “You know Italian?” she asked eagerly. 

“Ah. No. My copy is an English translation. Why don’t we look at it together? Then you’ll have the story fresh in your mind.” 

“I’d like that.”

* * *

No matter how much they were all found family now, sometimes a new little family could do with a little time together. When they’d sighted the island, picture perfect in a gorgeous sunrise, Sara had starting plotting immediately. A little break for just the...well, three of them, for now.

As nice as it would be to get some time alone with her husband on a tropical island, sometimes Sara felt bad that her duties as captain required her to share the care of her daughter with so many others. Not **_too_** bad, mind you--one did what had to do, and she was the captain--but it didn’t feel right to leave Michaela behind this time. So, an outing it would be for all three of them.

“Can’t I come with you?” Sin asked plaintively one last time, as Sara and Len were climbing down into the longboat. 

“Not this time,” Sara replied firmly--yet again. 

They had baskets full of laundry that they planned to attend to on the island, and empty baskets and canvas sacks for anything interesting that they might find growing. Michaela was happily situated in her pack basket on Len’s back, and Sara was going to man the oars. 

“We’ll be back in a few hours,” she told the girl, not without sympathy. “You have things to do. And we’ll see you later.” 

Sin looked disappointed, but with a small and half-hearted wave, sulked off to her chores as the longboat started moving away.

“Why couldn’t she have come with us?” Len asked, once they were well out of earshot. “I don’t want her to feel left out. She’d like a little adventure.”

Sara grinned at him, pausing just a moment. “That’s exactly why she’s not coming today,” she told him. “I want to scout around, and find a nice, safe adventure that she and I can have together. A cave to explore, or somesuch.” 

“Ah.” Leonard tilted his head toward her, smiling a little. “Excellent idea. I bow to the captain’s superior wisdom.” 

“As well you should!” Sara fixed him--and their fascinated daughter, who was watching the gentle waves--with a mock-critical eye. “And make sure Michaela keeps her bonnet on. The sun is pretty strong for her.” 

“Aye, aye, ma’am!”

* * *

In the interest of a little actual leisure time, they got to work quickly. Not long later, the laundry was spread out on bushes to dry, and a couple baskets had been filled with fruit that grew nearby. 

Sara checked once more that the longboat was secure, then looked around for her family. They were just under the treeline. Len was holding Michaela, who was shrieking at the antics of a family of monkeys, which were bold as brass and not intimidated by the tall visitors at all.

“See? Just like the toy Uncle Mick made for you,” Len was saying, holding his daughter tightly even as she reached for the real thing with both hands.

“No,” Sara said firmly, joining them. “Just...no.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Len replied, with an air of innocence that was patently fake. 

“No, you may not upstage your best friend by bringing home a real live monkey.”

Len made an exaggerated pouty face at his daughter, who replied with another torrent of shrieking giggles. 

Sara shook her head in fond exasperation, tossing the staff she’d cut from a piece of fallen wood from hand to hand. “What am I gonna do with the two of you?” 

Len looked appraisingly at his daughter, who gave them both a gap-toothed smile. “Oh, we’re far too irresistible to be set loose on society. I think you need to kidnap us aboard your pirate ship and sail away with us to the ends of the earth.” 

“Oops. Already did that,” Sara replied. “Are you ready for a bit of adventure?” 

Len leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Always.” 

“Want me to take her for a while?” 

“Nope...we’re good.” 

Sara grinned and shouldered the baby’s now-empty pack basket. She snagged an empty bushel basket and started to pick a path through the undergrowth. Leonard, and the wide-eyed Michaela, followed.

* * *

Back on the ship, there was also some adventure at hand, albeit a different sort.

“This is amazing!” Kendra exclaimed, turning slowly to take in the entire horizon. 

“You’re OK up here?” Amaya asked, concerned. The crow’s nest was very high up, and could play funny tricks on people’s perceptions if they weren’t accustomed to it. And sometimes, even if they were, Amaya thought, swallowing hard and trying to keep her composure. She was usually fine with the height, but...

“I’m partly scared out of my wits,” Kendra admitted, “but I can see everything! It’s like being a bird!” She noticed the bo’sun looking a trifle green. “Are you OK?” 

“Fine,” Amaya replied, with a slightly shaky smile. She handed their newest recruit a spy glass. “Take a look through this.” 

The other woman did, smiling, then frowned just a little as she turned. “What’s that?” she asked, passing the glass back to Amaya.

The bo’sun took a look herself, then whistled sharply. “Mick! Storm coming!” 

Down on the deck, Mick raised his own glass for a look, then swore. “Get down here!” He began shouting orders to the others. 

Amaya’s eyes widened as she recognized just what those orders meant, even as she submerged her unease to make her way safely down, Kendra right behind her. She ran to Mick’s side as soon as her feet hit the deck. 

“Mick, you can’t,” she said in a low, but urgent tone. 

“Have to,” he replied, looking through the glass again. “This thing is moving damn fast. How else would we all have missed it? If Sara can see it, she’ll already be headed back.”

He shook his head. “And if not...well, there’s too many reefs hereabouts. If cap’n ain’t back by the time we’re ready to make sail, we’ve got to go. I can’t risk the ship - ‘an all of you. She’d skin me if I did.” 

Amaya nodded, lips pressed into a thin line. Mick thought that she looked a trifle pale, but then he caught sight of something Nate was doing wrong and bellowed for him to get his act together before he sent them all to the bottom. 

Overhead, the sun, for the moment, shone on...even as the darkness on the horizon grew.

* * *

“I think Sin will like this place...even if it doesn’t have any tigers,” Len said a bit later. The island was alive and thriving, but neither of them had seen anything to rouse their considerable survival instincts under the canopy of green. Altogether, he thought, a fascinating place to explore a bit without too much worry.

“There’s plenty of other things for her to see,” Sara agreed, leaning on her staff and looking completely the adventurer, to her husband’s great admiration.“Let’s check that out,” she suggested, spying a cave in the side of a hill and pointing. 

“Good idea,”Leonard replied, observing their daughter showing signs of incipient crankiness. Michaela was being quiet for the moment, which generally heralded trouble if she wasn’t actually asleep. “I think someone is getting hungry.” 

“Let’s get in out of the sun.” 

The interior of the cave was dry and spacious. Sara checked briskly for signs of wildlife, then settled down with her back against the wall to tend to the baby. Leonard fished a stub of a candle out of his pocket and lit it. There was still light coming in from outside, but it seemed oddly darker than it should be.

“There’s some pretty rocks back here,” he observed after a moment. “I think Sin would like to see this.” 

“Good,” Sara said with a sigh, smiling down at her daughter. “I can bring her back...wait. Do you hear that?” 

“What?” 

This time, the rumble of thunder was unmistakable. Michaela didn’t care for the noise--or her mother’s evident agitation--and began to wail. Sara scrambled to her feet, cuddling the baby to try and calm her. Leonard joined her at the mouth of the cave. 

“Where the hell did that come from?” he asked in dismay. 

The sky had blackened and rain had suddenly started sheeting down. They could barely see a yard past the entrance to the cave. 

Sara made an involuntary move, as if to leave despite the baby in her arms, but Len caught her arm. 

“We can’t go out in that! We’d never make it to the shore.” 

“But the ship -” 

“Mick will take care of the ship. We need to wait this out here, where we’ve got shelter.” 

Sara clearly knew he spoke truth, but the look on her face said how little she wanted to listen to it. Michaela hiccupped disconsolately, and Sara patted her distractedly, staring out into the rain.

“I should be there,” she said quietly.  
“But we’re here. It’ll be OK, Sara. Mick knows his business. So do the others.”

“I know, but…”

“I know.”

* * *

Rain sheeted sideways across the deck, blinding the crew and making footing treacherous. 

After one particularly bad lurch, Amaya fell to her knees, vomiting. That was very unlike her, and ordinarily, Mick would have been concerned, but just then, his mind was occupied with keeping them all alive. 

“Get yerself below!” he bellowed over the howling wind, clutching tightly to the wheel. 

“You need me!” she yelled back, looking miserably up at him. “I’ll be OK!”

“I can’t be worryin’ about you getting washed overboard right now. Get below!” 

The words stung, even though she knew he didn’t mean them quite that way. Amaya struggled back to her feet, shivering and fighting more nausea.

“What can I do?” Kendra asked earnestly from behind Mick. She was soaked and shivering, but willing to do her part. Or try, at least. 

An experienced hand who was too ill to keep her feet. Or a well-intentioned rookie. Mick swore sulfurously. 

“Jax!” he roared, making his decision. “Get Kendra on a safety line, then get to work furling those sails!” 

“Aye, sir!” 

Amaya made her own decision...and took herself down below. As she did, she spared a thought for those left behind on the island--and hoped they were doing better than she was.

* * *

By the time the storm blew itself out, full darkness had fallen. Sara had started a fire, and they shared a couple of biscuits Len had tucked in his pocket. He leaned back against the wall with his daughter sprawled on his chest, and his wife curled into his side. 

“Rest,” he murmured, stroking Sara’s hair as she stared into the fire, clearly worrying about the ship. “It’ll all be fine in the morning.” 

***

 

Sara was up and running as soon as she awoke, charging recklessly down to the beach. Len followed as quickly as he could with the baby in his arms. Michaela was cheerful again, her unhappiness during the storm forgotten in the way of a small child, babbling as he jostled her.

The morning brought sunshine and clear skies...clear enough to see that there was no ship in sight. 

“My ship,” Sara gasped, in a voice nearer to panic than Len had ever heard from her. He shifted Michaela to his hip, and grasped Sara’s shoulder with his free hand.

“Sara,” he said, keeping his voice deliberately calm. “That storm blew up out of nowhere. Mick would have had to make a decision very quickly. You know he’d choose the safest course, and get the ship away from these reefs.” He nodded as she looked at him, eyes considering. “You can see that there’s no wreckage. You’ve got to believe that he moved the ship off to safety, and he’ll be back as soon as possible.” 

“But…” Her eyes roved again across the landscape that had seemed so idyllic yesterday but seemed full of hidden menace this morning. 

“We’re fine,” Len told her firmly. “We’re together, and we’re safe. Mick will be back for us. We’ll just have a bit more adventure than we originally planned, all right?”

“I...you’re right. We’ll be fine.” 

She plastered on a smile that really didn’t fool him, but he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead all the same. 

Sara let him, then nodded, drawing her habitual intense competence around her like a cloak. “All right,” she said, taking stock of the situation and clearly beginning to plan her strategy. “At least the longboat is still here, but I think all our clean laundry is scattered all over the beach.” 

“So we’ll wash it again,” Len told her in that same even tone. “Let’s gather it all up, and take stock of what we have to work with.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jael's note: My deepest apologies for how long it took for this second chapter. It's totally my fault and not my esteemed cowriter's. I promise further updates will come much more quickly!

Mick staggered below for some dry clothes. He nearly reeled into Sin, who was leaving his cabin with an evil-smelling slop bucket.  

“She all right?” he asked, trying not to sound too worried for Sin’s sake. Kid had enough to be thinking about.

“I think she will be, now that the seas have settled,” Sin replied, looking too pale and peaked herself for Mick’s taste.  “I gave her a clean bucket, just to be sure.” 

“Good lass.” Mick reached out to ruffle her hair, trying to convey confidence he wasn’t sure he was feeling **.** “Get rid o’that, then get yourself a bit o’kip.”  

Sin smiled a little, but her eyes were unhappy **.** “But what about Sara and Leonard and the baby?”  

“We all need a bit of rest, after that storm, and I need to check for damage before we get underway.” He gentled his voice **.** “Get along with you, now.”  

As the girl trotted off, Mick stepped quietly into the cabin, shutting the door after himself. Amaya lay on her side in their bunk. Her face was pallid and her hair matted with sweat. He perched carefully on the edge of the bunk and laid a gentle hand on her forehead. No fever, praise be.  

Amaya’s eyes fluttered open. “Hey,” she muttered weakly.  

“Hey, yourself. How are you feelin’?”  

“Weak as a newborn kitten.”  

“Aye. Ya look it. You scared me. Ain’t never seen you get seasick like that before.” He bent and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry for speakin’ so roughly.”  

She shook her head. “No - you were busy trying to keep us all alive. I should have gotten myself out of the way, but we were so shorthanded…”  

“Hush.” He paused just a second before adding the word he knew he should say more often **.** “Love.”  

Amaya smiled a little at that **. “** You should rest,” she told him firmly.  

“Think I will. Just for a bit.  We’re at anchor, and the perfessor has the watch.”  

“You must be tired, if you trust Martin with the ship,” she teased, shifting herself over to make room.  

Mick hesitated, then decided to commit **.** He shucked off his wet things and stretched out beside her carefully. “He’s a good man...Cap’n wouldn’t have ‘im otherwise. Besides, him an’ Sin are the only ones who weren’t on deck through the whole storm.”  

After a moment of balancing rather precariously on the edge of the bunk, Mick pulled Amaya into his arms and resettled them both more comfortably on the pillows.  

“I stink,” she protested weakly.  

“Eh.  So do I.”   

* * *

 

On the island, Leonard surveyed the supplies they’d brought with them. “We’ve got a hatchet and spade;  bucket, scrub brush, and soap;  and some baskets and sacks.” 

“Two canteens, some bedding, some of our clothes, and lots of baby clothes and diapers,” Sara added, then glanced at him. “Come on, crook...turn out your pockets.  We need to know everything we’ve got to work with.”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he smirked, folding his arms and eyeing her.

Sara just rolled her eyes as she set out a small pistol, flint and steel, a compass, a flask, a hussif made of pretty flowered linen, and a surprising number of knives.  

Len produced a candle stub, matchbox, his watch, a slender volume of Shakespeare’s sonnets, a leather-sheathed knife, a comb, a pack of cards, a neat little sewing roll of his own, and a set of lockpicks. And of course, Michaela’s stuffed kitty. (Their daughter herself was sound asleep, napping peacefully on of a sparse bed of soft grasses gathered from nearby.)

“City boy,” Sara teased, eyeing his collection. “What were you planning to steal **_here?_** And why are **_you_** carrying a comb?”

In response, he reached out to tug gently at the end of her braid, which was a rather snarled mess by that point.    

“I suppose we ought to save what’s in the flask, in case of injury,” Sara said with a rueful sigh, picking the vessel up to give it a shake, listening to the contents slosh.

“Probably a good idea,” Len agreed.  

Sara returned the flask to its spot **.** “I want to hike up to high ground and take a look around.”  

“I really think we should try to make ourselves a more comfortable camp,” Len objected. “I don’t fancy another night sleeping on rocks.”

Sara huffed impatiently.  “Fine.  You can do that while I go look for our ship.”  

Leonard sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.  There really was no reasoning with Sara when she was like this--determined and on a mission. He liked her that way, but… “Can I have the hatchet and spade?” he asked, in as neutral a tone as he could manage.  

Sara nodded and turned to head up the path. Len caught her hand and tugged her back.  

“Hey. Be careful.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I love you,” he said, very deliberately.  He kept hold of her hand until she looked up at him and smiled wearily.

“I love you, too,” she said softly, squeezing his fingers. “Be careful not to strain your arm.”    

 

 

* * *

 

Sara knew she shouldn’t stay away long. Not that she didn't trust Leonard with their daughter, but he wasn't wrong about the work they’ll need to do to survive here for more than a day--and though he’s a hell of a hard worker, he _is_ a city boy. There are things he simply wouldn't think of.

But...she can’t not _try_ to look for the ship. Her ship. Her home. Once she makes sure it's not in view--and neither is any wreckage--she can carry on. Do what she has to do. But she has to do that first.

She _has_ to.

And she does.

It hasn’t been _that_ long, Sara thought, when she headed back after a sweaty, frustrating slog around the island’s high ground. OK, maybe she just kept looking for new vantage points, new angles, just a little higher, just a little better view. But...

“Any luck?” Len asked when Sara finally returned to the cave, discouraged and lost in thought.

“No. No sign of the ship.” She glanced around, impressed. “You’ve been busy.”  

A fire pit had been dug in front of the cave and ringed with loose rocks that had littered the cave floor. A pile of leafy branches was arranged into a sleeping pallet,  with their sheets spread out on top. Other supplies were neatly arranged against the wall, and a bushel basket made up with a sack as a cradle for the baby.  Michaela sat in it, chewing happily on her kitty.

Leonard nodded. “It’ll be better once our blankets dry,” he said quietly.

Sara sighed, then met his eyes, trying to show her appreciation for all the work he’d done while she was on her fruitless quest. “Thank you.”  

Leonard accepted the words with a tip of his head **.** “I know how much The Canary means to you, Sara, but we don’t know how long it will take them to get back to us,” he said, reaching out to pull her toward him.“We may as well be comfortable.”  

“I know.”  She tried to smile for him, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And here I was teasing you for being a city boy.”

“Oh, well, I am,” he allowed. “Sara. They will come back for us. They _will_. And until then...you need to help keep your city-boy husband alive, OK?” He winks at her. “And set a good example for your daughter, who will undoubtedly turn out to be just as competent and practical as her mother.”

That makes Sara smile. “Well. That’s true enough…”

“Then let’s start her lessons now. Can’t hurt.”

* * *

 

“Has anyone seen Sin anywhere?” Martin asked worriedly as he entered the galley.  

The others shook their heads in a clear negative.  

“She must be tired out...she was so upset,” Kendra offered. She started to get to her feet, but Mick put out a hand to stop her.

“I think I’ve got an idea where she might be,” he said, pushing himself to his feet wearily.  

He walked down the passageway to Leonard and Sara’s cabin and tapped lightly on the door. When he didn’t receive an answer, he let himself in quietly.  Yes...Sin was curled up asleep on the bunk, wrapped in Sara’s favorite shawl and cradling one of Leonard’s books and Michaela’s doll tightly in her arms. Soot lifted his head and blinked slowly at the first mate.  

Mick stepped a bit closer to the bunk.  “Sin?” he said, in a gruffly gentle tone.   

The girl stirred and blinked open her eyes, which were reddened from crying. Mick’s heart went out to her, but he was pretty sure she needed something a little different than a pat on the back and “there, there” sort of sympathy Kendra might use.

“Come along, lass,” he said quietly. “It’s gonna take all of us to get them home again.”  

Sin sat up, rubbing her eyes, and stared at him a moment. “Mister Rory, do you really think…?”  

“I do.” He tried to put the full force of his faith in Sara and Leonard into his voice, along with his faith in this crew...including Sin herself.

Apparently, it worked on some level **.** Sin scrambled to her feet, and Mick pulled her in for a rough hug, something rare for him.  Then he set her down on her feet and tousled her hair.  

“Run along now,” he told her. “I know...go find the perfessor. He was lookin’ for you.”

Mick watched as she scampered off, faith restored, then sighed to himself, looking around the room.

Logically, he knew Sara and Leonard were tough and resourceful and likely to be fine, both them and their daughter.

Emotionally, he wouldn’t have minded a pep talk, too.

“Hold on, boss,” he muttered to himself, “we’re comin’ for you.” 

* * *

 

 Leonard wasn’t particularly surprised to be awakened in the middle of the night by Sara, who was thrashing and whimpering in her sleep.  He glanced over to where Michaela still slept, then propped himself up on one arm and reached out the other to shake his wife’s shoulder firmly.

“Sara.  Sara, wake up.”  

Her eyes flew open and she lay gasping and staring into the darkness of the cave.  

“Sara, it’s Len,” he told her quietly, keeping contact. “Listen to me, OK?  We are not on Lian Yu. We’re on an island in the South Pacific. **_Not Lian Yu_**. It’s just us and the baby. No one here will hurt you.”  

She turned her head to stare at him with wild eyes. He carefully reached out and brushed her hair back from her face.  

“You’re **_not_** that helpless, frightened girl any more,” he told her. “You are the strongest and most capable person I know, and you are **_not_** alone. Do you understand?”  

Sara rolled over and buried her face in his chest.  Len’s arms were immediately around her, warm and strong.  

“M’sorry.”  

“It’s fine,” he soothed.  “At least you didn’t wake the -”

They both held their breath for a long moment while Michaela snuffled and shifted a bit, then fell back to sleep.  

“How are you taking this so well?” Sara wondered. She knew he still had trouble sleeping sometimes.  

“Because all my worst nightmares involve being separated from you.  We’re together-- we can handle this.  Whatever this turns out to be, we’ll be all right.”  

He cleared his throat, then, and recited quietly **:**

_“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,_

_Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not._

_Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments_

_Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,_

_That, if I then had waked after long sleep,_

_Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,_

_The clouds methought would open, and show riches_

_Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,_

_I cried to dream again.”_

“That’s not a sonnet,” Sara mumbled sleepily.  “At least, I don’t think it is.” 

“Not a sonnet.  A play about a mysterious island.”

She yawned. “I’m sorry you don’t have your books.”  

“I keep telling you -”

 “I know, but you’re such a...a...creature of comfort.”  

There was a note of gentle teasing in her voice, so Len counted that as a win.  He settled Sara a bit more securely against his chest. 

“I’m pretty comfortable right now.”  

“Mmm…”

* * *

 

 Sara was awakened, much later, by the slightly distant sound of her daughter’s voice. She started a little, glancing over to the cave opening, but relaxed as she heard Len’s even voice responding.

She stretched luxuriously, then rose, thinking wistfully about fresh clothing. Then she padded over to the entrance, peering outside into the brilliant sunlight, focusing on the figures of her husband and their daughter in his arms.

“Kee!” Michaela shouted between giggles.  “Kee, kee, kee!” 

“Mon-key,” Len corrected gently.  

“Kee!”  

Sara couldn’t repress a chuckle, thinking that the little one sounded a bit like a monkey herself. She saw Leonard turn his head, noting her presence, and he confirmed it to her as he raised his voice again, reciting:

_“O, wonder!_

_How many goodly creatures are there here!_

_How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,_

_That has such people in't!”_

Michaela stared up at her father for a moment, then looked back up to the much more interesting monkeys **\--** who seemed intrigued by the small monkey-like creature but had no intention whatsoever of coming closer. For his part, Len winced a bit as the baby eagerly stretched out her arms, hoping to catch one of the wonderful “toys.”

“Are you all right?” Sara asked, coming up beside them.  

Len grimaced and tried to shift his shoulder a bit.  

“Here.  Let me take her for a while.”  Sara eyed her husband speculatively.  “As long as we’re stuck here, you should take advantage of the opportunity to swim.  It’s a good way to keep your joints mobile, without putting too much stress on the bones.”  

“Really?”  

“Really,” Sara told him firmly, taking hold of a very squirmy baby.  

“Hmm. Maybe. But first...what do you think is in order for today?”

“Let’s all get a wash, then work on getting some more fresh water and food stored up. We can’t get too much.” She glanced away. “You know...just in case.”

Leonard didn’t argue.

“You’re the expert.” He leaned forward to kiss her. “Let’s go.”


End file.
